Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins

Wow, that's a mouthful (no pun intended :))! Seriously though, these muffins are really great. They are everything a good muffin should be. Moist, flavorful and filling without being too heavy. But the very best part about these muffins is the smell. I can't even describe how delicious my house smelled while these muffins were baking. I couldn't wait to eat them so I had one pretty much as soon as they came out of the oven. These are going to be a welcome breakfast treat for the rest of this week.

Whole Wheat Applesauce Spice Muffins
(Adapted from: Food for my Life)

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat white flour (I use King Arthurs)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup unsweetened applesauce

Streusel Topping
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a muffin tin with liners.
In a small bowl blend the dry streusel ingredients. Use your fingers to work butter into the flour/sugar mixture.
Sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside.
In a bowl combine the applesauce, butter and brown sugar.
Add the eggs, one at a time, to the wet ingredients.
Slowly add the dry ingredients to dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
Fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way full (about 1/3 of cup per muffin) and top with the streusel mixture.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Double Berry Muffins

You know, if I'm not careful people are not going to believe me when I say that I don't like cooked fruit... I guess I will say that I am expanding my palate and I can now tolerate different types of cooked fruit in muffin or coffee cake form. But I still say that you won't catch me eating an apple pie anytime soon! Ick.

Now for the recipe at hand. My grocery store had raspberries on sale today for 99 cents and blueberries for 2.50. I bought both and quickly decided that I wanted to make muffins (It's going to be perfect for my 6:30 am rode trip tomorrow!). I used my new favorite search mechanism (searching foodgawker, I'm a sucker for a pretty picture) and I found a recipe that looked a little different from my usual muffin base. It came together pretty quickly and they smell fantastic. I will say that I am not sure that the preserves actually did anything for my muffins other than turning the batter greyish so next time I think I will leave them out. I also think that the crumb topping needs a little adjusting so I will make those changes below. Other than that this recipe turned out great! I would definitely make these muffins again.

Double Berry Muffins
(Source: original recipe for Raspberry and Jam Muffins found on Joy the Baker)

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2- 1 cup frozen or fresh berries (I used raspberries and blueberries)

For the topping:

4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

Put a rack in the upper third of oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Generously butter muffin cups or line with cupcake papers.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over moderately low heat; remove from heat. Whisk in milk, egg, yolk and vanilla until well combined.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Add milk mixture and stir until just combined. Gently but thoroughly fold in the berries.

Divide batter among muffin cups and spread evenly.

For the topping:

Combine all the topping ingredients in a bowl and rub together with your fingertips until crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over batter in cups.

Bake until golden and crisp and a wooden pick inserted into center of a muffin comes out clean, 18-22 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack for 15 minutes, then run a knife around edges of muffin tops and carefully remove from cups. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 12 muffins

Whole Wheat Muffins

This week I decided to try a healthier variety of muffin (a weekend full of cookouts and eating out will do that to a girl). I used a few different recipes as inspiration to come up with this super easy muffin. It really made the house smell fantastic and I'm hoping I'll feel less guilty if I decide to grab 2 one morning instead of 1 ;)

Whole Wheat Muffins

2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour (I use King Arthur)
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup and 2 tbsp applesauce
1 egg

Line muffin tin with liners and preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. Next add the sugar to the flour mixture and blend. In another medium bowl (or your standing mixer) blend the milk, applesauce and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until blended.

Scoop the batter into a muffin tin (about 1/3 cup into each cup). Bake at 400 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Pumpkin Muffins

I know it's not the right season for pumpkin things but I don't really care :) I love pumpkin flavored baked goods and pumpkin muffins just sounded good. I pulled this recipe from the King Arthur website and it was good. I think when I make them again I will substitute applesauce for the vegetable oil because after a day or so they were kind of dry. Despite that, they did have a great flavor and the tops were beautifully puffy!

Pumpkin Muffins
(Source: King Arthur)


1 cup (8 ounces) pumpkin (about 1/2 of a 15 ounce can)
2 large eggs
1/2 cup (4 ounces) packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons (2 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)
1/2 cup (4 ounces) milk
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose or King Arthur Whole Wheat Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a large bowl whisk together the pumpkin, eggs, brown sugar, oil, molasses, salt, spices, and milk. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and baking soda together. Add all at once to the wet ingredients and mix until all ingredients are well combined. Drop about 3 tablespoons (or a scant quarter cup) of the batter into the greased leaf molds, or the wells of a prepared muffin pan. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until firm to the touch for leaf molds; 18 to 20 minutes for regular muffins. Yield: 16 to 18 leaf shaped muffins, or 12 regular muffins.

More Muffins

I am continuing on my quest to make muffins every weekend but in the process I have realized that if I am going to make them every weekend and blog about them (my goal)..... I am going to have to broaden my horizons. Anyone that knows me well knows that I have a fear of cooked fruit. I don't eat pies, cobblers, breads, etc with big old chunks of mushy cooked fruit. It makes me gag. Typically the only exception to that rule is blueberries in muffins. I thought about this weekend and I decided that if I could handle a blueberry in a muffin I just might be able to handle something else. About 2 years ago I made strawberry bread that was a huge hit and I actually enjoyed it, so I decided I would try and make strawberry muffins.

The result is pretty good. I am in love with the muffin part. There is a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg that is just fantastic. The fruit chunks....I'm handling. I think next time I will pop the strawberries in the fruit processor first that way I won't have to bite into a chunk of them. But all in all this was a great recipe, one that I would make again. I forgot to add the cinnamon sugar topping this time but I think it would make a great addition.



Strawberry Muffins
(Source: Eggs on Sunday)

2 cups all-purpose flour (can substitute up to 1 cup white whole wheat flour, or whole grain pastry flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 cup diced strawberries

cinnamon sugar, for sprinkling on top

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with paper liners or silicone muffin cups.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ground nutmeg, and ground cinnamon.

In a separate large bowl, use your fingers to rub together the lemon zest and sugar until the sugar is moistened and fragrant. Add the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla and whisk together until blended. Add the melted butter and whisk until thoroughly combined.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold together with a rubber spatula. Add the diced strawberries and fold in, just until distributed.

Spoon the muffin batter into the muffin cups. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of each, then bake for 15-18 minutes, until the tops are golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed with your finger.

Makes 12 muffins.

Also I have to sneak this picture in here because my cat is so cute. She can't stand not knowing what is going on and she just hopped right up in the window sill while I was taking pictures :)

Mmm mmm mmm Muffins

This post has moved to the Sunny Side :) Click the link for the recipe, I promise it's worth it!

Sugar and Spice Muffins

Once again it has been way to long since I've updated! For the first time in a couple weeks I have no plans for today so I'm going back and adding all of the stuff that I have been compiling over the last few months.

I'll start with these muffins. I actually made these back in JUNE! I haven't made them again yet but I plan to, maybe even today! These had a great texture and wonderful flavor. I was worried that they might be too sweet, but that wasn't the case at all. They almost have the flavor of a cake doughnut, mmmmm.....



Sugar and Spice muffins
(Source: Allrecipes.com)

* 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 egg
* 3/4 cup milk
*
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 cup butter, melted


DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 12 muffin cups.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, beat together oil, 3/4 cup sugar, egg and milk. Stir egg mixture into flour mixture, just until moistened. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.

While muffins are baking, mix together 3/4 cup white sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon.

While muffins are still hot, dip tops in melted butter and then in cinnamon sugar mixture.